This proposal will demonstrate the feasibility of teaching hypertensive patients to reduce their dietary sodium intake to 80 mEq/d and to maintain that level for the duration of the project. Recent evidence indicates that non-pharmacologic therapeutic alternatives or adjunctive measures are desirable in the treatment of hypertension. Dietary sodium restriction has long been advocated for this purpose but the degree of restriction required is not known, nor has it been possible to teach representative populations of hypertensives to reduce and maintain modest sodium restriction for periods of 6 months or longer. To accomplish this goal will require a multifaceted intervention. Two of the components, developed at our institution under previous NIH-supported studies, are individualized counseling by a registered dietitian to provide low sodium alternatives for personal food preferences and the use of a urine test stick for self-monitoring compliance with dietary sodium restriction. The low sodium compliance intervention was designed by a multidisciplinary team of scientists to test the effectiveness of different intensities of social support and the use of the urine test sticks in achieving and maintaining the desired level of dietary sodium restriction. After completion of the first phase of the study in the pilot group, extension to community based hypertensives will be conducted. If successful this demonstration effort will validate a non-pharmacologic approach to the primary or adjunctive treatment of hypertension which can be offered to the general hypertensive population. The techniques to be used and the materials to be developed may enable the effective implementation of dietary sodium restriction as a therapeutic modality for hypertension in a way not previously possible. Demonstrating a successful and practical method for reducing dietary sodium intake is important in view of the estimated 37,000,000 American hypertensives and the potential benefit to a sizable proportion of them.